A study described first-grade teachers' beliefs and practices about reading instruction. Drawing from interview and observational data, 16 teachers from 4 districts in south-central Texas were placed on a continuum from skills-based to literature-based in relationship to their use of the basal. Only 2 teachers were found to rely solely on the basal, while 3 teachers enhanced the basal with literature, and 4 teachers used only literature in the reading instruction. Six teachers enhanced their basal use with additional skills and one teacher relied on skills only in her reading instruction. This diversity of teaching beliefs and practices was corroborated by questionnaire data from a larger sample of teachers. Next, a framework developed by M. Belenky and others was used to categorize teachers' ways of knowing. Findings showed one teacher to be a "silent knower," six were "received knowers," one was a "subjective knower," seven were "procedural knowers," and one was a "connected knower." Results challenge P. Shannon's hypothesis that basals "deskill" teachers while supporting L. Sosniak and S. Stodolsky's view that teachers are more autonomous in their use of textbook materials. (Contains 36 references and 3 figures of data. An appendix presents a summary of the "ways of knowing" categories.) (Author/RS)